BUT now must he hasten, for the Gate-thing was to be holden two hours
before noon; so he betook him speedily to the Hall, and took his shield
and did on a goodly helm and girt his sword to his side, for men must
needs go to all folk-motes with their weapons and clad in war-gear. Thus
he went forth to the Gate with many others, and there already were many
folk assembled in the space aforesaid betwixt the Gate of the Burg and
the sheer rocks on the face of which were the steps that led up to the
ancient Tower on the height. The Alderman was sitting on the great stone
by the Gate-side which was his appointed place, and beside him on the
stone bench were the six Wardens of the Burg; but of the six Wardens of
the Dale there were but three, for the others had not yet heard tell of
the battle or had got the summons to the Thing, since they had been about
their business down the Dale.
Face-of-god took his place silently amongst the neighbours, but men made
way for him, so that he must needs stand in front, facing his father and
the Wardens; and there went up a murmur of expectation round about him,
both because the word had gone about that he had a tale of new tidings to
tell, and also because men deemed him their best and handiest man, though
he was yet so young.
Now the Alderman looked around and beheld a great throng gathered
together, and he looked on the shadow of the Gate which the southering
sun was casting on the hard white ground of the Thing-stead, and he saw
that it had just taken in the standing-stone which was in the midst of
the place. On the face of the said stone was carven the image of a
fighting man with shield on arm and axe in hand; for it had been set
there in old time in memory of the man who had bidden the Folk build the
Gate and its wall, and had showed them how to fashion it: for he was a
deft house-smith as well as a great warrior; and his name was Iron-hand.
So when the Alderman saw that this stone was wholly within the shadow of
the Gate he knew that it was the due time for the hallowing-in of the
Thing. So he bade one of the wardens who sat beside him and had a great
slug-horn slung about him, to rise and set the horn to his mouth.
So that man arose and blew three great blasts that went bellowing about
the towers and down the street, and beat back again from the face of the
sheer rocks and up them and over into the wild-wood; and the sound of it
went on the light west-wind along the lips of the Dale toward the
mountain wastes. And many a goodman, when he heard the voice of the horn
in the bright spring morning, left spade or axe or plough-stilts, or the
foddering of the ewes and their younglings, and turned back home to fetch
his sword and helm and hasten to the Thing, though he knew not why it was
summoned: and women wending over the meadows, who had not yet heard of
the battle in the wood, hearkened and stood still on the green grass or
amidst the ripples of the ford, and the threat of coming trouble smote
heavy on their hearts, for they knew that great tidings must be towards
if a Thing must needs be summoned so close to the Great Folk-mote.
But now the Alderman stood up and spake amidst the silence that followed
the last echoes of the horn:
‘Now is hallowed in this Gate-thing of the Burgstead Men and the Men of
the Dale, wherein they shall take counsel concerning matters late
befallen, that press hard upon them. Let no man break the peace of the
Holy Thing, lest he become a man accursed in holy places from the plain
up to the mountain, and from the mountain down to the plain; a man not to
be cherished of any man of good will, not be holpen with victuals or
edge-tool or draught-beast; a man to be sheltered under no roof-tree, and
warmed at no hearth of man: so help us the Warrior and the God of the
Earth, and Him of the Face, and all the Fathers!’
When he had spoken men clashed their weapons in token of assent; and he
sat down again, and there was silence for a space. But presently came
thrusting forward a goodman of the Dale, who seemed as if he had come
hurriedly to the Thing; for his face was running down with sweat, his
wide-rimmed iron cap sat awry over his brow, and he was girt with a rusty
sword without a scabbard, and the girdle was ill-braced up about his
loins. So he said:
‘I am Red-coat of Waterless of the Lower Dale. Early this morning as I
was going afield I met on the way a man akin to me, Fox of Upton to wit,
and he told me that men were being summoned to a Gate-thing. So I turned
back home, and caught up any weapon that came handy, and here I am,
Alderman, asking thee of the tidings which hath driven thee to call this
Thing so hard on the Great Folk-mote, for I know them nothing so.’
Then stood up Iron-face the Alderman and said: ‘This is well asked, and
soon shall ye be as wise as I am on this matter. Know ye, O men of
Burgstead and the Dale, that we had not called this Gate-thing so hard on
the Great Folk-mote had not great need been to look into troublous
matters. Long have ye dwelt in peace, and it is years on years now since
any foeman hath fallen on the Dale: but, as ye will bear in mind, last
autumn were there ransackings in the Dale and amidst of the Shepherds
after the manner of deeds of war; and it troubleth us that none can say
who wrought these ill deeds. Next, but a little while agone, was
Wood-grey, a valiant goodman of the Woodlanders, slain close to his own
door by evil men. These men we took at first for mere gangrel felons and
outcasts from their own folk: though there were some who spoke against
that from the beginning.
‘But thirdly are new tidings again: for three days ago, while some of the
folk were hunting peaceably in the Wild-wood and thinking no evil, they
were fallen upon of set purpose by a host of men-at-arms, and nought
would serve but mere battle for dear life, so that many of our neighbours
were hurt, and three slain outright; and now mark this, that those who
there fell upon our folk were clad and armed even as the two felons that
slew Wood-grey, and moreover were like them in aspect of body. Now stand
forth Hall-face my son, and answer to my questions in a loud voice, so
that all may hear thee.’
So Hall-face stood forth, clad in gleaming war-gear, with an axe over his
shoulder, and seemed a doughty warrior. And Iron-face said to him:
‘Tell me, son, those whom ye met in the wood, and of whom ye brought home
two captives, how much like were they to the murder-carles at
Wood-grey’s?’
Said Hall-face: ‘As like as peas out of the same cod, and to our eyes all
those whom we saw in the wood might have been sons of one father and one
mother, so much alike were they.’
‘Yea,’ said the Alderman; ‘now tell me how many by thy deeming fell upon
you in the wood?’
Said Hall-face: ‘We deemed that if they were any less than threescore,
they were little less.’
‘Great was the odds,’ said the Alderman. ‘Or how many were ye?’
‘One score and seven,’ said Hall-face.
Said the Alderman: ‘And yet ye escaped with life all save those three?’
Hall-face said: ‘I deem that scarce one should have come back alive, had
it not been that as we fought came a noise like the howling of wolves,
and thereat the foemen turned and fled, and there followed on the fleers
tall men clad in sheep-brown raiment, who smote them down as they fled.’
‘Here then is the story, neighbours,’ said the Alderman, ‘and ye may see
thereby that if those slayers of Wood-grey were outcast, their band is a
great one; but it seemeth rather that they were men of a folk whose craft
it is to rob with the armed hand, and to slay the robbed; and that they
are now gathering on our borders for war. Yet, moreover, they have
foemen in the woods who should be fellows-in-arms of us. How sayest
thou, Stone-face? Thou art old, and hast seen many wars in the Dale, and
knowest the Wild-wood to its innermost.
‘Alderman,’ said Stone-face, ‘and ye neighbours of the Dale, maybe these
foes whom ye have met are not of the race of man, but are trolls and
wood-wights. Now if they be trolls it is ill, for then is the world
growing worser, and the wood shall be right perilous for those who needs
must fare therein. Yet if they be men it is a worse matter; for the
trolls would not come out of the waste into the sunlight of the Dale.
But these foes, if they be men, are lusting after our fair Dale to eat it
up, and it is most like that they are gathering a huge host to fall upon
us at home. Such things I have heard of when I was young, and the aspect
of the evil men who overran the kindreds of old time, according to all
tales and lays that I have heard, is even such as the aspect of those
whom we have seen of late. As to those wolves who saved the neighbours
and chased their foemen, there is one here who belike knoweth more of all
this than we do, and that, O Alderman, is thy son whom I have fostered,
Face-of-god to wit. Bid him answer to thy questioning, and tell us what
he hath seen and heard of late; then shall we verily know the whole story
as far as it can be known.’
Then men pressed round, and were eager to hear what Face-of-god would be
saying. But or ever the Alderman could begin to question him, the throng
was cloven by new-comers, and these were the men who had been sent to
bring home the corpses of the Dusky Men: so they had cast loaded hooks
into the Weltering Water, and had dragged up him whom Face-of-god had
shoved into the eddy, and who had sunk like a stone just where he fell,
and now they were bringing him on a bier along with him who had been
slain a-land. They were set down in the place before the Alderman, and
men who had not seen them before looked eagerly on them that they might
behold the aspect of their foemen; and nought lovely were they to look
on; for the drowned man was already bleached and swollen with the water,
and the other, his face was all wryed and twisted with that spear-thrust
in the mouth.
Then the Alderman said: ‘I would question my son Face-of-god. Let him
stand forth!’
And therewith he smiled merrily in his son’s face, for he was standing
right in front of him; and he said:
‘Ask of me, Alderman, and I will answer.’
‘Kinsman,’ said Iron-face, ‘look at these two dead men, and tell me, if
thou hast seen any such besides those two murder-carles who were slain at
Carlstead; or if thou knowest aught of their folk?’
Said Face-of-god: ‘Yesterday I saw six others like to these both in array
and of body, and three of them I slew, for we were in battle with them
early in the morning.’
There was a murmur of joy at this word, since all men took these felons
for deadly foemen; but Iron-face said: ‘What meanest thou by “we”?’
‘I and the men who had guested me overnight,’ said Face-of-god, ‘and they
slew the other three; or rather a woman of them slew the felons.’
‘Valiant she was; all good go with her hand!’ said the Alderman. ‘But
what be these people, and where do they dwell?’
Said Face-of-god: ‘As to what they are, they are of the kindred of the
Gods and the Fathers, valiant men, and guest-cherishing: rich have they
been, and now are poor: and their poverty cometh of these same felons,
who mastered them by numbers not to be withstood. As to where they
dwell: when I say the name of their dwelling-place men mock at me, as if
I named some valley in the moon: yet came I to Burgdale thence in one day
across the mountain-necks led by sure guides, and I tell thee that the
name of their abode is Shadowy Vale.’
‘Yea,’ said Iron-face, ‘knoweth any man here of Shadowy Vale, or where it
is?’
None answered for a while; but there was an old man who was sitting on
the shafts of a wain on the outskirts of the throng, and when he heard
this word he asked his neighbour what the Alderman was saying, and he
told him. Then said that elder:
‘Give me place; for I have a word to say hereon.’ Therewith he arose,
and made his way to the front of the ring of men, and said: ‘Alderman,
thou knowest me?’
‘Yea,’ said Iron-face, ‘thou art called the Fiddle, because of thy sweet
speech and thy minstrelsy; whereof I mind me well in the time when I was
young and thou no longer young.’
‘So it is,’ said the Fiddle. ‘Now hearken! When I was very young I
heard of a vale lying far away across the mountain-necks; a vale where
the sun shone never in winter and scantily in summer; for my sworn
foster-brother, Fight-fain, a bold man and a great hunter, had happened
upon it; and on a day in full midsummer he brought me thither; and even
now I see the Vale before me as in a picture; a marvellous place, well
grassed, treeless, narrow, betwixt great cliff-walls of black stone, with
a green river running through it towards a yawning gap and a huge force.
Amidst that Vale was a doom-ring of black stones, and nigh thereto a
feast-hall well builded of the like stones, over whose door was carven
the image of a wolf with red gaping jaws, and within it (for we entered
into it) were stone benches on the daïs. Thence we came away, and
thither again we went in late autumn, and so dusk and cold it was at that
season, that we knew not what to call it save the valley of deep shade.
But its real name we never knew; for there was no man there to give us a
name or tell us any tale thereof; but all was waste there; the wimbrel
laughed across its water, the raven croaked from its crags, the eagle
screamed over it, and the voices of its waters never ceased; and thus we
left it. So the seasons passed, and we went thither no more: for
Fight-fain died, and without him wandering over the waste was irksome to
me; so never have I seen that valley again, or heard men tell thereof.
‘Now, neighbours, have I told you of a valley which seemeth to be Shadowy
Vale; and this is true and no made-up story.’
The Alderman nodded kindly to him, and then said to Face-of-god:
‘Kinsman, is this word according with what thou knowest of Shadowy Vale?’
‘Yea, on all points,’ said Face-of-god; ‘he hath put before me a picture
of the valley. And whereas he saith, that in his youth it was waste,
this also goeth with my knowledge thereof. For once was it peopled, and
then was waste, and now again is it peopled.’
‘Tell us then more of the folk thereof,’ said the Alderman; ‘are they
many?’
‘Nay,’ said Face-of-god, ‘they are not. How might they be many, dwelling
in that narrow Vale amid the wastes? But they are valiant, both men and
women, and strong and well-liking. Once they dwelt in a fair dale called
Silver-dale, the name whereof will be to you as a name in a lay; and
there were they wealthy and happy. Then fell upon them this murderous
Folk, whom they call the Dusky Men; and they fought and were overcome,
and many of them were slain, and many enthralled, and the remnant of them
escaped through the passes of the mountains and came back to dwell in
Shadowy Vale, where their forefathers had dwelt long and long ago; and
this overthrow befell them ten years agone. But now their old foemen
have broken out from Silver-dale and have taken to scouring the wood
seeking prey; so they fall upon these Dusky Men as occasion serves, and
slay them without pity, as if they were adders or evil dragons; and
indeed they be worse. And these valiant men know for certain that their
foemen are now of mind to fall upon this Dale and destroy it, as they
have done with others nigher to them. And they will slay our men, and
lie with our women against their will, and enthrall our children, and
torment all those that lie under their hands till life shall be worse
than death to them. Therefore, O Alderman and Wardens, and ye neighbours
all, it behoveth you to take counsel what we shall do, and that
speedily.’
There was again a murmur, as of men nothing daunted, but intent on taking
some way through the coming trouble. But no man said aught till the
Alderman spake:
‘When didst thou first happen upon this Earl-folk, son?’
‘Late last autumn,’ said Face-of-god.
Said Iron-face: ‘Then mightest thou have told us of this tale before.’
‘Yea,’ said his son, ‘but I knew it not, or but little of it, till two
days agone. In the autumn I wandered in the woodland, and on the fell I
happened on a few of this folk dwelling in a booth by the pine-wood; and
they were kind and guest-fain with me, and gave me meat and drink and
lodging, and bade me come to Shadowy Vale in the spring, when I should
know more of them. And that was I fain of; for they are wise and goodly
men. But I deemed no more of those that I saw there save as men who had
been outlawed by their own folk for deeds that were unlawful belike, but
not shameful, and were biding their time of return, and were living as
they might meanwhile. But of the whole Folk and their foemen knew I no
more than ye did, till two days agone, when I met them again in Shadowy
Vale. Also I think before long ye shall see their chieftain in
Burgstead, for he hath a word for us. Lastly, my mind it is that those
brown-clad men who helped Hall-face and his company in the wood were
nought but men of this Earl-kin seeking their foemen; for indeed they
told me that they had come upon a battle in the woodland wherein they had
slain their foemen. Now have I told you all that ye need to know
concerning these matters.’
Again was there silence as Iron-face sat pondering a question for his
son; then a goodman of the Upper Dale, Gritgarth to wit, spake and said:
‘Gold-mane mine, tell us how many is this folk; I mean their
fighting-men?’
‘Well asked, neighbour,’ said Iron-face.
Said Face-of-god: ‘Their fighting-men of full age may be five score; but
besides that there shall be some two or three score of women that will
fight, whoever says them nay; and many of these are little worse in the
field than men; or no worse, for they shoot well in the bow. Moreover,
there will be a full score of swains not yet twenty winters old whom ye
may not hinder to fight if anything is a-doing.’
‘This is no great host,’ said the Alderman; ‘yet if they deem there is
little to lose by fighting, and nought to gain by sitting still, they may
go far in winning their desire; and that more especially if they may draw
into their quarrel some other valiant Folk more in number than they be.
I marvel not, though, they were kind to thee, son Gold-mane, if they knew
who thou wert.’
‘They knew it,’ said Face-of-god.
‘Neighbours,’ said the Alderman, ‘have ye any rede hereon, and aught to
say to back your rede?’
Then spake the Fiddle: ‘As ye know and may see, I am now very old, and,
as the word goes, unmeet for battle: yet might I get me to the field,
either on mine own legs or on the legs of some four-foot beast, I would
strike, if it were but one stroke, on these pests of the earth. And,
Alderman, meseemeth we shall do amiss if we bid not the Earl-folk of
Shadowy Vale to be our fellows in arms in this adventure. For look you,
how few soever they be, they will be sure to know the ways of our foemen,
and the mountain passes, and the surest and nighest roads across the
necks and the mires of the waste; and though they be not a host, yet
shall they be worth a host to us?’
When men heard his words they shouted for joy of them; for hatred of the
Dusky Men who should so mar their happy life in the Dale was growing up
in them, and the more that hatred waxed, the more waxed their love of
those valiant ones.
Now Red-coat of Waterless spake again: he was a big man, both tall and
broad, ruddy-faced and red-haired, some forty winters old. He said:
‘Life hath been well with us of the Lower Dale, and we deem that we have
much to lose in losing it. Yet ill would the bargain be to buy life with
thralldom: we have been over-merry hitherto for that. Therefore I say,
to battle! And as to these men, these well-wishers of Face-of-god, if
they also are minded for battle with our foes, we were fools indeed if we
did not join them to our company, were they but one score instead of
six.’
Men shouted again, and they said that Red-coat had spoken well. Then one
after other the goodmen of the Dale came and gave their word for
fellowship in arms with the Men of Shadowy Vale, if there were such as
Face-of-god had said, which they doubted not; and amongst them that spake
were Fox of Nethertown, and Warwell, and Gritgarth, and Bearswain, and
Warcliff, and Hart of Highcliff, and Worm of Willowholm, and Bullsbane,
and Highneb of the Marsh: all these were stout men-at-arms and men of
good counsel.
Last of all the Alderman spake and said:
‘As to the war, that must we needs meet if all be sooth that we have
heard, and I doubt it not.
‘Now therefore let us look to it like wise men while time yet serves. Ye
shall know that the muster of the Dalesmen will bring under shield eight
long hundreds of men well-armed, and of the Shepherd-Folk four hundreds,
and of the Woodlanders two hundreds; and this is a goodly host if it be
well ordered and wisely led. Now am I your Alderman and your Doomster,
and I can heave up a sword as well as another maybe, nor do I think that
I shall blench in the battle; yet I misdoubt me that I am no leader or
orderer of men-of-war: therefore ye will do wisely to choose a wiser
man-at-arms than I be for your War-leader; and if at the Great Folk-mote,
when all the Houses and Kindreds are gathered, men yeasay your choosing,
then let him abide; but if they naysay it, let him give place to another.
For time presses. Will ye so choose?’
‘Yea, yea!’ cried all men.
‘Good is that, neighbours,’ said the Alderman. ‘Whom will ye have for
War-leader? Consider well.’
Short was their rede, for every man opened his mouth and cried out
‘Face-of-god!’ Then said the Alderman:
‘The man is young and untried; yet though he is so near akin to me, I
will say that ye will do wisely to take him; for he is both deft of his
hands and brisk; and moreover, of this matter he knoweth more than all we
together. Now therefore I declare him your War-leader till the time of
the Great Folk-mote.’
Then all men shouted with great glee and clashed their weapons; but some
few put their heads together and spake apart a little while, and then one
of them, Red-coat of Waterless to wit, came forward and said: ‘Alderman,
some of us deem it good that Stone-face, the old man wise in war and in
the ways of the Wood, should be named as a counsellor to the War-leader;
and Hall-face, a very brisk and strong young man, to be his right hand
and sword-bearer.’
‘Good is that,’ said Iron-face. ‘Neighbours, will ye have it so?’ This
also they yeasaid without delay, and the Alderman declared Stone-face and
Hall-face the helpers of Face-of-god in this business. Then he said:
‘If any hath aught to say concerning what is best to be done at once, it
were good that he said it now before all and not to murmur and grudge
hereafter.’
None spake save the Fiddle, who said: ‘Alderman and War-leader, one thing
would I say: that if these foemen are anywise akin to those overrunners
of the Folks of whom the tales went in my youth (for I also as well as
Stone-face mind me well of those tales concerning them), it shall not
avail us to sit still and await their onset. For then may they not be
withstood, when they have gathered head and burst out and over the folk
that have been happy, even as the waters that overtop a dyke and cover
with their muddy ruin the deep green grass and the flower-buds of spring.
Therefore my rede is, as soon as may be to go seek these folk in the
woodland and wheresoever else they may be wandering. What sayest thou,
Face-of-god?’
‘My rede is as thine,’ said he; ‘and to begin with, I do now call upon
ten tens of good men to meet me in arms at the beginning of Wildlake’s
Way to-morrow morning at daybreak; and I bid my brother Hall-face to
summon such as are most meet thereto. For this I deem good, that we
scour the wood daily at present till we hear fresh tidings from them of
Shadowy Vale, who are nigher than we to the foemen. Now, neighbours, are
ye ready to meet me?’
Then all shouted, ‘Yea, we will go, we will go!’
Said the Alderman: ‘Now have we made provision for the war in that which
is nearest to our hands. Yet have we to deal with the matter of the
fellowship with the Folk whom Face-of-god hath seen. This is a matter
for thee, son, at least till the Great Folk-mote is holden. Tell me
then, shall we send a messenger to Shadowy Vale to speak with this folk,
or shall we abide the chieftain’s coming?’
‘By my rede,’ said Face-of-god, ‘we shall abide his coming: for first,
though I might well make my way thither, I doubt if I could give any the
bearings, so that he could come there without me; and belike I am needed
at home, since I am become War-leader. Moreover, when your messenger
cometh to Shadowy Vale, he may well chance to find neither the chieftain
there, nor the best of his men; for whiles are they here, and whiles
there, as they wend following after the Dusky Men.’
‘It is well, son,’ said the Alderman, ‘let it be as thou sayest: soothly
this matter must needs be brought before the Great Folk-mote. Now will I
ask if any other hath any word to say, or any rede to give before this
Gate-thing sundereth?’
But no man came forward, and all men seemed well content and of good
heart; and it was now well past noontide.